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Everything seems to be going swimmingly. A convincing victory over China (even in defeat you inflicted far more casualties on them), tanks and airplanes now available and the democratic will of the Japanese people being respected! Oh, wait...
 
That battle is totally crazy!! 200,000 Chinese casualties!!!!
 
RP boost now? Why not after the restauration? IMHO, you have wasted a good 30 years of increased RP.
 
RP boost now? Why not after the restauration? IMHO, you have wasted a good 30 years of increased RP.

That's a really good point, this does seem very late to be taking the research boosts.

I also have a very very weird mental image of you now - during the last week I've been dealing with a Californian Anti-Virus software company whose actual do something useful people are in India, AV Indians :rofl:
 
Everything seems to be going swimmingly. A convincing victory over China (even in defeat you inflicted far more casualties on them), tanks and airplanes now available and the democratic will of the Japanese people being respected! Oh, wait...

They can't have everything. :)

That battle is totally crazy!! 200,000 Chinese casualties!!!!

It was quite the bloodbath; I don't remember exactly, but some of the Russian battles are close.

RP boost now? Why not after the restauration? IMHO, you have wasted a good 30 years of increased RP.

That's a really good point, this does seem very late to be taking the research boosts.

I also have a very very weird mental image of you now - during the last week I've been dealing with a Californian Anti-Virus software company whose actual do something useful people are in India, AV Indians :rofl:

You're absolutely right -- from a strictly optimizing standpoint, I ought to have done it much earlier (to say nothing of the Educational Efficiency track). I got them now because a) they're so cheap and b) I had no other burning desires. I can't say I'm deliberately pursuing suboptimal strategies (although I'd like to claim that), but it is a tutorial, after all. :) I'll have a "Lessons learned" post, or perhaps "lessons re-learned" in some cases, at the end of the AAR, and this is one of them. I'm also "cheating", in the sense that Russia starts with 10% literacy and the AI is terrible at maxing it out, so I know I can divert scarce resources to other areas now.

PrawnStar, that is a... very interesting image, particularly since I'm an American of predominantly Slavic origin ;) The nickname, for those interested, comes from my (at the time) two favorite sports teams: the Colorado Avalanche (NHL) and the Cleveland Indians (MLB).
 
Wonderfull AAR. Helped me a lot wiggling my way in to Vic II in general (I'm just home from an exhaustive HoI3 campaign).
Thanks for the effort :)

Glad it's been useful! HOI3 can indeed be a bit exhausting from time to time.

Should have a new update tomorrow!
 
Chapter 16: I am a fantastic diplomat! General? Not so much.

May 8, 1922: I begin constructing three airplanes.

May 16, 1922: I need even more money than I'm making; let's turn to Mutual Funds to increase our tax efficiency.

mutualfunds.jpg


May 23, 1922: The only way I can afford my (unnecessarily massive) fleet is to stop buying Canned Food for a while. To compound the problem, I of course build another 50. (In my defense, part of me was still stuck in Vicky 2 mode, instead of AHD mode, where money almost literally grew on trees. Having more dreadnoughts than every fleet in history combined was probably just a tad excessive.)

November 10, 1922: The UK takes Dutch Guyana from the Netherlands.

November 24, 1922: More Place in the Sun!

April 6, 1923: It is only at this point that I realize "Hey genius, without Canned Food, you can't build dreadnoughts."

May 13, 1923: I switch to the Imperialist Faction, briefly, for two reasons. One, so there's no ceiling on taxes (except 100%). Two, so I can force my silly capitalists to build Automobile and Aeroplane Factories. Nagoya gets an Automobile Factory, while Osaka gets to build Airplanes.

May 24, 1923: I'm now making a profit, and a fairly substantial one (+£852 a day).

August 7, 1923: Welcome to my sphere of influence, China!

chinasphere.jpg


August 23, 1923: Mutual Funds makes a huge difference -- I'm now making nearly £2000 a day -- but my factories could still use some help.

integralrailsystem.jpg


September 28, 1923: The predicted alliance request from China comes in.

November 27, 1923: I'm insanely impatient and start to gripe that I'm still not making cars or planes; now, I realize that the factories aren't done yet. Duh. If I were to play this game again, I'd have annexed Korea instead of sphering it; I'm still importing huge quantities of Coal and Iron.

February 28, 1924: My 50 dreadnoughts are completed, which means my economy resumes hemorrhaging money. I stop buying Artillery.

March 6, 1924: A small rebellion in India is quickly put down.

March 25, 1924: I get "Edo, you're a lady!" More free prestige!

August 19, 1924: Advanced Metallurgy is, in my humble opinion, one of the more useless techs in the game.

advancedmetallurgy.jpg


Sulfur is needed to make Ammunition -- and nothing else. Of course, the world market in Sulfur is usually over-saturated anyway. However, I do want Electric Furnace, so I have to put up with Advanced Metallurgy.

October 15, 1924: Johore wants an alliance; hah! I still maintain my foolish dreams of eventual conquest!

January 1, 1925: I switch to the Conservatives. I've hopefully "primed the pump", so to speak, and my capis should build the higher tech factories on their own once they start doing well.

January 7, 1925: I cut taxes on the poor to 90% and on the rich to 60%.

May 14, 1925: If you're an old hand at Vicky 2, you know that, for a long time, Freedom of Trade was the killer tech to end all killer techs. Now, the bonus has been divvied up between the first three techs, so in my quest to fund my Fleet of Doom [tm], I turn to an otherwise odd tech.

businessregulations.jpg


If I'd been a GP from the start of the game, I might have gone to this line of techs earlier. The diplomatic influence boost is substantial, but isn't that important when there's so little left to influence. Most of the world has already been divided, sorry to say.

June 19, 1925: You know your country is in trouble (NGF) when Spain feels confident enough to start manufacturing a CB.

August 10, 1925: I now go back and pick up Analytic Philosophy. If you're wondering why I'm so scatterbrained with techs at this point, it's because I'm trying to take advantage of peace time; I need as much cash in the bank as I can get, but also need to tech as quickly as possible late in the game. Again, dumb of me not to have pushed for these much, much earlier.

analyticphilosophy.jpg


September 3, 1925: #1 issue in Japan (for the 1926 election)? Pro-Military. Then Anti-Military, Jingoism, Pacifism, and Interventionism. No Liberal victory this time around!

October 1, 1925: I take a look at party loyalty for fun. Here's the map:

loyaltymap.jpg


Blue means conservative, yellow means liberal, red means socialist. Grey means no loyalty. If an area has stripes (notice Edo, which is Socialist), there are two competing loyalties. The darker the color, the more loyalty in the region. (Compare the pale yellow of Hokkaido to the area to the south.)

December 31, 1925: A border incident on the UK. Lovely. I'll pass.

February 1, 1926: I briefly consider pushing into Persia for fun and/or profit; then I realize they're Friendly with the UK and in Russia's sphere. I'd rather justify a war against somebody much more profitable. Like... Bukkhara!

No, I haven't lost my mind, even though Bukkhara is completely landlocked, unreachable by land, and of dubious economic value. You'll see why a bit later. We will humiliate them good!

February 22, 1926: The election of 1926 is over.

electionof24.jpg


Since the Conservatives were in power, they get that nice Ruling Party boost.

March 24, 1926: I start buying more Artillery. You know... for Bukkhara.

April 1, 1926: Our next tech is Semi-Automatization. Why, you ask? I'm picking up the "cheaper" techs before going whole hog on the more expensive ones.

semiautomatization.jpg


July 18, 1926: It is time to punish Bukkhara for their years of... something! Yeah!

bukharadow.jpg


I'm risking prestige (meh) and MIL (meh) for a war I can't possibly win (without a lot of luck). Why? Look at the last line in the dialogue box. "Bukkhara is protected by 1 nation(s)."

That nation? Russia. Now, yes, Japan gets a CB on Russia for Sakhalin. However, Russia has lots of other friends. By declaring war on one of their spherelings, I isolate Russia diplomatically, yet can bring all of my own allies. They only have 374 brigades, and surely not that many are in Siberia. I should win easily!

July 31, 1926: Oh. Right. Russia can mobilize. I begin to blockade the Pacific Coast of Russia.

battleoftatarstraights.jpg


Those 12 heavy ships are Dreadnoughts, so perhaps I'm not as paranoid as you think I am.

August 9, 1926: I am losing huge amounts of cash each day. £10,000+ to be precise. I have to improve profitability.

assemblyline.jpg


August 13, 1926: I sink three Russian dreadnoughts. It only took 96 of mine!

August 16, 1926: I do the unthinkable. I enact a 50% tariff, which cuts my rate of decline in half.

August 20, 1926: Three more Russian dreadnoughts into the Pacific. I eased up some -- only used 50 dreadnoughts and 46 cruisers.

August 29, 1926: 5 more Russian dreadnoughts. This isn't like the Russians at all; they've got a pretty sizable Pacific fleet.

September 7, 1926: Russia adds a war goal. The nerve of those jerks! At best, the war score should be -1% --

russianwargoal.jpg


What? -8%? How?!

...

CHINA!!!! ::shakes fist at the heavens::

Yes, my darling allies, the Chinese Empire, have been getting their butts kicked by the Russians. Handily. China has 1248 brigades, yet they've lost every battle against Russia. This will not be the cake walk I envisioned.

September 28, 1926: Proving that China isn't my only liability, Korea gets beat up too. My war score is now at -23%. I have the entire Russian Pacific Coast blockaded and have won every naval battle.

October 14, 1926: Japanese troops take Ootomari.

November 6, 1926: Dai Nam has decided to invade Russian Alaska, which is just darling. Of course, the Russians are currently invading Japanese Alaska with considerable success, as well as Russian Canada.

November 21, 1926: The first battle between Japan and Russia!

gasattack.jpg


Note we both have the gas attack modifier -- I was really hoping Russia wouldn't. The only way to counteract it is to get the Gas Defense invention, which only triggers when you're at war with a country using Gas Attack at the time.

November 28, 1926: I lose 12,000 troops in Karachi. Those wily Russians, using their land border and China's inability to stop them! All are tanks. I did inflict 7196 casualties.

January 14, 1927: I push tariffs to 100%. I really, REALLY need China to at least win a couple of battles against Russia.

February 1, 1927: Pogobi rages on. The Russian troops have nowhere to retreat, and although they outnumber me, I've got a sizable edge in ORG.

February 13, 1927: Now, THAT is a satisfying victory.

pogobi.jpg


This is, sadly, the high point for the Russo-Japanese War. My own losses are not small, but the Russians have nowhere to flee. We're now at -27%.

February 17, 1927: We capture Pogobi.

February 22, 1927: 51,000 Japanese troops prepare to land at Khabarovsk.

February 24, 1927: The Russians take Ross River. This is kind of like a World War!

March 1, 1927: There goes Fairbanks.

March 4, 1927: I sink 14 Russian ships (a cruiser and 13 transports). This is little consolation.

March 6, 1927: I will be out of money in two days. Shift Work is a great tech, but it's probably too little, too late.

shiftwork.jpg


I need to take out a big fat loan to keep going. A nice boost for AHD is that you don't have to take out money in £5000 increments any more.

ourfirstloan.jpg


At the moment, all borrowed funds are coming from the Bank of Japan, which means I pay the interest to my people instead of another country. To the best of my knowledge, you cannot see how much interest you get from money you're loaning to other countries -- even if you click on the Loans Given tab. If somebody knows a way to find this out, please let me know.

April 27, 1927: I lose 21,000 at Umarkot. Expected, but still unwelcome.

May 2, 1927: I win at Ninguta, but inflict few casualties. (I kill 6331 Russians for 4072 Japanese -- good for .9 warscore).

May 6, 1927: Korea peaces out. Crap.

May 21, 1927: I win again at Vladivostok. I'm outnumbered by 10,000, yet still inflict almost twice the casualties. This is good for 2.7 warscore... but I'm still losing. By a lot. Curse you China!

June 6, 1927: What I need most is manpower. If I mobilize, I'll get 424 brigades of Infantry... and my economy will probably completely collapse. Since Russia has 1254 brigades and has more Army techs than I do (believe it or not), it would almost certainly drive me into bankruptcy to mobilize. I have to hope I get lucky.

June 20, 1927: I lose my first battle to Russian troops -- a bunch of tanks get caught by twice as many enemy infantry. I inflict some horrendous casualties, but still lose 2.7 warscore. Since I'm already down by 25%, that's not good.

June 29, 1927: I get military access from Korea; my plan is to start feeding troops into Korea and build a strong defensive line there.

July 4, 1927: Of all countries to act as my guardian angel... I would not have expected the UK. UK declares war on the Russian Empire -- but has to deal with all of Russia's friends, like France, the Netherlands, and Scandinavia.

August 12, 1927: The only way I'm going to win this war is to kill more Russians than they kill Japanese -- that means tanks. Lots of tanks. 18 brigades go into the pipeline, along with 16 brigades of airplanes.

September 29, 1927: Sneaky Russians slip past my blockade (I don't have enough ships to chase down all the Russian forces, and I've had to shift some to deal with the disturbingly large numbers of Russian dreadnoughts) and land at Shumshu. This is a chance to pick off 36,000 Russians in one battle. I dispatch 60,000 Japanese, the remnants of my force that invaded Vladivostok and the Russian Pacific Coast.

November 6, 1927: I am victorious. 1.8 war score!

November 28, 1927: China just became a Great Power, supplanting the NGF. My economy was barely surviving; now, it's back in the toilet again. From +£99 to -£4064 in just a couple of weeks.

January 19, 1928: I just took Shumshu! I'm hanging tough, but still down by over 25% warscore.

January 31, 1928: China just got a White Peace for Russia -- of course, I'm still stuck with the bill of China's ungodly warscore, but without their troops to distract Russian attention. This is going to hurt.

February 2, 1928: I sink 14 Russian ships (two cruisers, 12 transports).

February 5, 1928: Austria declares war on the Russian Empire. My spirits soar briefly.

February 8, 1928: I'm taking out more and more loans each day to keep my economy afloat (another £600k -- my interest is £685 a day, before the new loan). The completion of Shift Work helps, but I really need to get back to improving my army too.

boltactionrifles.jpg


February 27, 1928: My alliance with the Chinese comes to an end.

April 13, 1928: Nobody else will give me loans -- I can probably fight for another six months or so, but I have to surrender.

russianswindrat.jpg


This was really, really embarrassing. Alaska was quite lucrative, but the Chinese sank me into a hole I never recovered from. I'm curious as to if I could have won the war if I'd left China/Korea out of it; I think so, given that my goal (Sakhalin) is pretty low warscore, and I could have just ignored the Russian army outside of Alaska. I've got a save from before the war, so I might try one day.

We've got three more updates in this AAR -- two for the last eight years and then the final update with pictures and such. I've covered all the major tutorial topics I intended to cover; if there's something I've missed or covered in insufficient detail, please let me know!
 
Wow, that was one brutal war... And I'm not sure your nefarious plot to isolate Russia and gain something from it could have worked, anyway. I've noticed in AHD that when you demand a state/colony from a country that's helping out another county in a war, that causes the first country's allies to be called, as if it was the one you were attacking all along.

I've missed some of the previous updates, but I'll catch up on them later.
 
Wow, that was one brutal war... And I'm not sure your nefarious plot to isolate Russia and gain something from it could have worked, anyway. I've noticed in AHD that when you demand a state/colony from a country that's helping out another county in a war, that causes the first country's allies to be called, as if it was the one you were attacking all along.

I've missed some of the previous updates, but I'll catch up on them later.

If that's true, I'm almost glad it never ended up working out.
 
We've got three more updates in this AAR -- two for the last eight years and then the final update with pictures and such. I've covered all the major tutorial topics I intended to cover; if there's something I've missed or covered in insufficient detail, please let me know!
Would you please explain why Victoria 2 Engineers are so pointless?

You made a case for Tanks and Aeroplanes being useful even as one-trick-ponies, so it isn't the inflexibility that breaks them for you. I'd like to hear your thoughts.
 
Would you please explain why Victoria 2 Engineers are so pointless?

You made a case for Tanks and Aeroplanes being useful even as one-trick-ponies, so it isn't the inflexibility that breaks them for you. I'd like to hear your thoughts.

Gladly.

The actual benefit Engineers are supposed to provide is somewhat mysterious. They're "good at attacking forts", but it isn't clear how. They're on par with early game Cavalry, but without the ability to flank. I've even heard their fort attacking bonus is bugged.

Airplanes and Tanks have something other units don't -- the sky high recon or discipline bonus. Everything Engineers do is replicated by another unit, apart from their possibly bugged fort attack. I've never had even one Engineer unit in my armies, in vanilla or AHD. If somebody has used them, or has considered something I haven't, I'll be delighted to hear that.
 
just to chime in. This is as brilliantly informative as your vanilla V2 tutorial. You really have a gift for this sort of AAR. As to engineers in V2, I've never worked out what they do either. I've tended to build a few on the principle that they ought to do something .... :mellow:
 
I have experienced that the Advanced Metallurgy tech decreases the Mean Time To Happen for the events of Mechanized Mining and Nitroglycerine Used for Mines, so they happen more often and you don't have to wait that long to max out those places. It makes your labourers happier (and more conscious) as they get more output and thus more money from their job. So no, not the most useless tech in the game :)
 
just to chime in. This is as brilliantly informative as your vanilla V2 tutorial. You really have a gift for this sort of AAR. As to engineers in V2, I've never worked out what they do either. I've tended to build a few on the principle that they ought to do something .... :mellow:

Glad to have you along! I've avoided the temptation to build Engineers, thankfully.

I have experienced that the Advanced Metallurgy tech decreases the Mean Time To Happen for the events of Mechanized Mining and Nitroglycerine Used for Mines, so they happen more often and you don't have to wait that long to max out those places. It makes your labourers happier (and more conscious) as they get more output and thus more money from their job. So no, not the most useless tech in the game :)

Interesting... I'm not sure that entirely salvages the tech, but it's at least not entirely useless. :)

We'll have a shortish update tonight, then Sunday we'll have the final gameplay update. This AAR will end with a bang (several, actually), I promise you that.
 
Ooft, a painful defeat. It was most certainly worth the gamble though, the tyrannical Bukkhara need be stopped!
 
Chapter 17: [Insert Witty Title Here]

April 16, 1928: It's been a while since I've shown you guys the budget screen.

budgetwindowfeaturinglo.jpg


That's a pretty hefty interest cost, and as you can tell from the pie, it's not all debt to my own citizens. Priority #1 is to pay off those debts and get my economy functioning again. Priority #2 is to strengthen my army even more, so that if another war with Russia comes, I'll be better prepared.

May 10, 1928: I attend the Ninth Olympic Games.

November 28, 1928: My efforts to convince France to be my friend have largely failed; still, I need at least one Great Power ally.

December 1, 1928: The best way to fight an opponent (like Russia) which has a large army is to reduce combat width. Therefore, I research Modern Divisional Structure.

moderndivisionalstructu.jpg


December 28, 1928: The UK acquires Russian Ghana. Good for them.

January 10, 1929: I pay off about one eighth of my loans; baby steps.

February 9, 1929: The Chinese Empire offers me an alliance, which I accept. Even if the Chinese are largely useless, their presence as my ally should create a deterrent effect.

April 11, 1929: Place in the Sun on Spain. I'd really, really like to go after the Philippines. They only have one major ally -- France, with Italy, Belgium, and Switzerland as lesser allies. The problem is my army's taken a pretty big pounding, and it'll be a while before I recover. I also want to get rid of my debt and build up a big fat war chest. If the CB lasted for more than six months, I'd do it. (France also has every army tech, which means I'd be outmanned and outgunned.)

May 21, 1929: I pay off about half of my loan. Almost there!

July 29, 1929: I get a Cut Down to Size on Abu Dhabi. I briefly consider it, but only briefly.

August 13, 1929: Japanese athletes do good, score me some prestige.

January 1, 1930: A unique opportunity presents itself. The current sphere master of the Dutch is Scandinavia, but I have something they don't -- a land border. I'm the only GP (besides France) which does. If I could get the Dutch in my sphere, that would be a huge boost to my economy.

January 13, 1930: To give my capis something to do, I max out railroads. Hopefully, with increased throughput, my economy won't go into the toilet with another long war.

limitedaccessroads.jpg


April 15, 1930: Election coming up; it's virtually a lock that the Conservatives get voted back in.

April 24, 1930: The loan is paid off. Huzzah!

August 22, 1930: My prediction is right.

electionof1928.jpg


At this point, party loyalty will probably keep the Conservatives in power for the rest of the game.

October 13, 1930: NGF bumps Scandinavia out of the Great Powers. Guess which GP is going to benefit? This one! :D

January 17, 1931: To further increase my influence (and to help me build more tanks), I build a Barrel Factory in Holland and an Aeroplane Factory in the Dutch West Indies. France has invested more cash, but I'm currently #2.

February 2, 1931: Back to improving my army.

armyriskmanagement.jpg


February 15, 1931: I raise 8 brigades of Guards.

April 9, 1931: I hand the Liberal Faction the keys again; I no longer need to interfere in the economy, and the growth bonus should keep my economy chugging for a long time to come.

April 19, 1931: To balance the budget, I stop buying Steamer Convoys and Artillery. (Fun fact: Japan is the world's #1 producer of Steamer Convoys, with the British very close behind.)

May 27, 1931: I get a Cut Down to Size in Argentina. No thanks -- too far away, too little reward.

July 18, 1931: More Tactics = less casualties.

armyncotraining.jpg


August 13, 1931: We get to host the Tenth Olympic Games. Exciting!

September 2, 1931: I'm actually kind of surprised how little of a fight the French put up here; the only thing I can think of is that France and the Netherlands were at war recently.

dutchinsphere.jpg


October 25, 1931: My economy has completely recovered; taxes on the poor are at 35%, with the rich at 40%. Adding the Dutch to my sphere has been a boon to my economy.

November 9, 1931: Scandinavia bumps the NGF back out of GP status.

November 27, 1931: I sign an alliance with the Netherlands.

April 7, 1932: So, my Dutch holiday doesn't last long.

dutchrevolution.jpg


This could be an intriguing opportunity. I start manufacturing a CB at once.

April 28, 1932: More Tactics, please!

greatwarexperience.jpg


May 17, 1932: I build eight brigades of Guards and six of Airplanes.

June 9, 1932: I begin shipping troops to Atjeh, which is where I have my border with the Dutch.

June 19, 1932: I switch to the Imperialist Faction to increase taxes.

August 17, 1932: The Dutch and I are back to Cordial; I want to get to Friendly to kick other countries out.

September 1, 1932: Let's do this!

dieyoudutchbastards.jpg


... Next update! :)
 
Java here we come!

That's (part of) the plan!

Next update is coming Sunday; we'll finish up (if all goes according to plan) Monday night. Any last minute requests for something you want me to discuss in detail?